One of the busiest Tesco convenience stores in Brighton and Hove closed last night (Saturday 22 July) for a two-week refit.
Tesco said: “We’ve closed this store until Friday 4 August to make improvements. We’re sorry for any inconvenience.”
A notice in the shop described the work as “essential maintenance”.
The shop, in West Way, in Hangleton, opposite the Grenadier pub, is due to reopen at 8am on Friday 4 August.
Two neighbouring premises have also recently had makeovers – the Mandarin Garden Chinese takeaway and Café O, in the premises fondly remembered as the Dough Boy bakery.
There have been concerns that Tesco might put in more self-service checkouts despite concerns among people with disabilities although such a move does not appear to be imminent.
While some are able to use the self-service checkouts, others struggle for a variety of reasons.
But Tesco, in common with other supermarket chains, has been installing an increasing number to cut staffing costs.
Almost a quarter of a million people have signed one petition by a disabled campaigner who wants Tesco to stop putting in more self-service card-only tills.
Pat McCarthy’s petition on Change.org was the subject of a news report by the Disability News Service Service.
She said that older people and many disabled people, especially those with mobility problems, manual dexterity issues or lifting problems, were among those who were unlikely to be able to use the self-service checkouts.
She hopes that her Stop Replacing People by Machines campaign will help persuade Tesco – and other supermarkets – to reverse the trend towards installing self-service card-only tills.
The website reported one disabled woman who signed the petition as saying: “I am disabled and in a wheelchair. Self-service tills are impossible to use.”
Another disabled shopper wrote: “I’m visually impaired and can’t see the instructions when needing to weigh things.
“I’m fed up when no other tills are open and the long wait when you need assistance. It also encourages people to steal things.”
A third said: “I also have health problems and find the self-service tills difficult.”
